1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a hydrogenation process, and in particular relates to a process for hydrogenation of polycarboxylic acids or derivatives thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hydrogenation reaction is a common reaction found in the petrochemical industry. A catalyst is usually used in a hydrogenation reaction and it mainly comprises transition metal elements. The hydrogenation products of polycarboxylic acids or derivatives thereof have several uses, such as being used as a plasticizer of polymer materials or additives of metal processing.
In various plasticizers, the amount of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) needed is large, and it adversely affects human beings and the environment. Thus, other substitutes have been developed, such as 1,2-cyclohexane polycarboxylic acid esters.
1,2-cyclohexane polycarboxylic acid esters are obtained by a simple process for hydrogenation of polycarboxylic acids or derivatives thereof. There are several hydrogenation processes disclosed. However, the conventional hydrogenation processes must be carried out at a high pressure (about 50-200 Bar), and high-pressure hydrogen is additionally provided to increase the hydrogenation yield of the hydrogenation processes to more than 90%. Thus, the equipment costs of the hydrogenation process is expensive making fabrication costs high.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop a process for hydrogenation of polycarboxylic acids or derivatives thereof. The hydrogenation process may be carried out in a relatively low pressure environment and have a high hydrogenation yield, thus, fabrication costs are lower than the conventional processes.